The Rebel Victor | I [THG]

Chapter Twenty-Eight | Final Choices

Fiona from One, both tributes from Six, the girl from Ten, and the boy from Eleven.

Quinn went over those names in her head for the next two days. Something had snapped inside her though. She was past the point of caring about the lives of other tributes, she was past the point about caring about her own-- what was the point? Ciruss had been right, at some point while a tribute is in the arena...they lose everything. They aren't the same person, they are completely different. It made sense what he had said about dying in the arena, if you died right away at least you died as yourself. But there was one point for each tribute that they broke, they weren't mendable anymore. They weren't themselves, they would die or leave the arena as someone else.

"How'd you do it?" Quinn asked as she and her last ally, Calab walked through the ridges. They could see it drop off into the next valley. "You took on two tributes."

"I only took on one, the one with the blow gun missed me-- hit their ally." he explained simply. "What about you? You took on One with a bad leg."

Quinn didn't feel much more emotion. She could still feel remnants of anger and frustration towards the Capitol and everyone who put them all in the arena. If she hadn't killed Fiona, Fiona would have killed her. If she had met Fiona outside the arena, they could have been friends. But the games changed them both. Fiona was trained to kill. And as much as Quinn hadn't wanted to admit it, the games turned her into a killer who put the blame on one person-- President Snow. But there was nothing she could do about it anymore, she just had to play his game.

But how could she? Rebels and drifters think she is someone to stand behind-- for a moment, when she had adrenaline and anger rushing through her body, she would have stood on a mountain with a microphone to announce how awful Snow and the Capitol was. But she was just one person, Snow had hundreds behind him.

"Quinn?" Calab asked, nudging her gently.

Quinn looked up at him quickly, "Oh, I uh...I let my anger get the best of me I guess."

Calab chuckled a bit, "Try not to take your anger out on me."

Quinn scoffed, and after a moment decided to ask a serious question. "Do you want to win-"

But before she could even finish asking, he already had his answer. "No."

She looked at him, confused.

"It's not me that has to win." he mumbled, his voice was so quiet she could just barely make out what he said. "The Districts wouldn't like it if I won anyway..." he shrugged, "They all want you to win."

Quinn stopped in her tracks. "But I don't get why, I don't even think that's true."

He stared at her, and raised an eyebrow. "You know why they want you to win."

The two of them remained quiet for a moment, "But I don't want to...at least I don't think I do."

"Then why did you kill One?" he retorted, "You could have let her kill you."

"I got angry, I told you that." she replied sharply as she began to walk, practically dragging her leg.

"Yeah? At what? At who?" he pressed on. "Why did you kill One?"

"She wasn't the same!" Quinn snapped, "None of us are! We are all completely different people compared to who was Reaped! We died as soon as our names were drawn-- it was a death sentence." she rambled, "There is no winner, the Victors are just tributes who happened to live longer. The games never stop! The Victors are always the Capitol's entertainment while they place bets on who will be the next Victor." Quinn could feel the heat in her face. She could have sworn that she felt the blood in her veins boiling. "It's best to die sooner rather than later after even more time spent pleasing President Snow and the other damn idiots who are stupid enough to enjoy the games."

Quinn finished, her breathing was quicker. She could still feel her blood boiling. Her hand was warped so tightly around the trident that her knuckles were white and her nails on her other hand were digging into her palms. After a moment of silence and Calab staring at her, thinking about her rambling speech. She didn't care who heard it. She stood by what she said and thought about Snow. She was good as dead already, and if Snow was going to keep trying to get rid of her-- she was going to make sure that the Districts didn't forget her like the other tributes. She wanted to know for a fact that Snow wasn't going to forget her.

"That's why the Districts want you to win." Calab stated, giving her a small nod to tell her that he agreed. "You're feisty. The Districts and the Capitol people like that."

Quinn wasn't happy that she had been labeled the rebel tribute. She wasn't happy that she made Snow hate her because of her anger. But now, she didn't care. Now, the only thing she cared about was either making sure she wasn't forgotten, or winning-- and live to see the end of the games.

That was her only choice.

She didn't want to kill the other tributes. But if she didn't, she wouldn't see the end of the games or of Snow.